1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a programmable cartridge based device for automatically dispensing a metered amount of liquid or liquids into a toilet's water tank and features an optional flush control system. This device is also designed to be used to dispense liquids to a bidet device under development by the present inventor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Toilet bowl sanitation has been a problem since the invention of the flush toilet. Toilets may contain microscopic organisms that can thrive and propagate to contaminate the toilet and bathroom. These germs can leave smelly, hard to clean deposits in the toilet bowl.
Early attempts at toilet sanitation relied upon manual methods of cleaning. It is a laborious chore, requiring frequent cleaning sessions and an expenditure of a substantial amount of time and labor. This gave rise to the advent of the automatic toilet bowl cleaning device. Currently, there is many of such automatic toilet bowl cleaning devices on the market. However, these devices have proved to be lacking in many respects.
One common method is to utilize dry chemical, water-soluble tablets of cleaner. These dry tablets are generally are submerged in the toilet tank so that the tablets slowly dissolve in the tank water, releasing a cleaning or disinfectant agent. The cleaning agent is then released into the toilet bowl when the toilet is flushed. The basic problem with these devices is that there is no control over the rate of chemical discharge. The dry chemical tablet will disintegrate and dissolve away relatively quickly at a set rate, which can result in far more of the product being consumed than needed for each flush cycle. Accordingly, it is necessary to replace the cleaning agent tablet frequently, resulting in an increased effort to keep the toilet clean. This is both costly and wasteful.
Another common method of toilet bowl sanitation utilizes a housing arrangement for a dry chemical tablet of cleaner. The housing partially isolates the tablet from the water supply to help slow the disintegration of the dry chemical in order to promote a more consistent delivery of the chemical treatment into the water for each flush. However, these passive devices still rely on a fixed dissolution rate. This results in an inconsistent delivery of the chemical for each flush.
A third method of toilet bowl sanitation utilizes a liquid chemical dispenser. These dispensers allow for a predetermined amount of the chemical solution to be injected into the water tank after each flush. However, many of these devices are bulky and can detract from the toilet aesthetics. They also have limited or no adjustments to allow a user to select a desired concentration level.
A toilet sanitation device suitable for retrofit installation to existing toilet fixtures, or original installation into manufactured fixtures that is easily installed, inexpensive and does not detract from the aesthesis of the bathroom would be highly desirable. It would also be desirable to have a device that can automatically dispense a programmed amount of a liquid into the water tank after each flush. It would also be desirable to have more than one dispensed type of solution.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved toilet sanitization devices for a toilet. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.